Wednesday night was supposed to mark the final start of the season for Washington Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg. Instead, it will mark the first start by lefthander John Lannan in place of Strasburg.

Strasburg, of course, officially was shut down Saturday morning after a rocky start Friday night. In an effort to keep control his workload in his first full season following Tommy John surgery, the Nationals long ago announced that Strasburg would be limited this season.

Lannan, the team’s opening day starter in 2009 and 2010, has spent the majority of this season at Class AAA. The team’s offseason trade for lefthander Gio Gonzalez and its free-agent signing of righthander Edwin Jackson left no room for Lannan it the rotation, resulting in him requesting a trade. However, the lack of a trade has resulted in this opportunity.

In two spot starts this season for Washington, Lannan is 2-0 with a 3.46 ERA. In 24 starts in the minors, he was 9-11 with a 4.30 ERA.

“Whatever happened there, good or bad, I’m not going to say I did good down there or I did bad down there,” Lannan told The Washington Post. “It just doesn’t translate. It is what it is down there, but it’s a whole different mindset right now. I just tried to stay as fresh as I could in the bullpens. I knew I couldn’t create what I’m going to feel on Wednesday. But looking forward to something, the last bullpen I threw, the mentality changed.”